McGuire Introduces Sweeping New Marijuana Bill

[Sara S]

Sen. Mike McGuire introduces sweeping marijuana bill

A North Coast state senator has introduced sweeping legislation aimed at establishing a comprehensive way for California to regulate nearly all aspects of medical marijuana, from licensing dispensaries to creating quality assurance testing for cannabis products.

State Sen. Mike McGuire’s Medical Marijuana Public Safety and Environmental Protection Act, Senate Bill 643, would essentially give the state’s medical marijuana laws specificity and teeth that have not been in place in the 18 years since California became the first in the nation to allow residents to use pot for medical purposes.

McGuire called California’s current medical cannabis regulations “impotent” and said that “the state has turned its head on this industry.”

“There are so many regulations governing agriculture in this state but one of our top crops has been left out and that’s marijuana,” said McGuire, whose district encompasses a western swath of Northern California from Marin County to the Oregon border.

The bill has earned support from a range of medical marijuana advocates, setting itself apart from a cluttered field of more than a dozen bills involving marijuana under consideration by Sacramento lawmakers. On Monday, AB 643 received unanimous approval from the Senate Business and Professions Committee. The bill heads to the Senate and Governance and Finance Committee next Wednesday.

Continues here.

[Valley Oak]

McGuire was one of my classmates in the Research Methods class, a political science course I took at Sonoma State University in the Fall semester of 2001. He was a smart student.

I hope this legislation makes it through Sacramento.

https://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/3...na-bill?page=0